Image courtesy: Cinema5d

The new SLR Magic 50mm f/1.1 is now shipping at Adorama, BHphoto and on [shoplink 43532 ebay]eBay[/shoplink]. And as you know SLR Magic improved the performance of the lens right before the first shipment. Cinema5D published the only review of the new lens and tells us what has been improved:

One of the problems were the very soft left side corners of the lens when the aperture was wide open. (The right side looked sharper). As you can judge from the above photo (crops from the upper left hand corner of the image produced by the lenses), this is no longer the case. The optical performance of the SLR Magic Cine 50mm f/1.1 was significantly improved and now is matching the right hand side of the lens.

Well done SLR Magic!

UPDATE: Judd Weiss early thoughts on the new SLR Magic 50mm f1.1 E-mount can be read on his Facebook page!

Steel Chen is working hard to further improve the new Nikon F to Sony E-mount autofocus adapter. As a reminder: This is not the Commlite adapter! It’s a new project which seems to work much better than the Commlite version.

Steel just sent me the link to his latest video shot on the A7rII with the [shoplink 43517 ebay]Nikkor 70-200 G I lens[/shoplink]. It really looks very promising. As usual feel free to add questions on the comment section. Steel will answer all your questions!

Something else for EU readers:
A77II Gold Box at Amazon.de
A51000 Gold Box at Amazon.co.uk.

[shoplink 43460][/shoplink]

DxOmark (Click here) posted the full Sony RX1rII sensor review. And as expected the performances more or less matches the one of the A7rII. DxO writes:

It isn’t any surprise to see that the 42-Mpix sensor in the [shopcountry 43460]Sony Cyber-shot RX1R II[/shoplink] is related to the unit in the Sony A7R II; however, the performance improvements over the earlier models are significant and help regenerate some the interest lost to the superb Leica Q. In terms of sensor dynamics, the Sony has the upper hand, but whether that and the inclusion of a built-in EVF is enough comes down to personal choice.
While the two models adopt equally impressive lenses, it is the focal length, and thus the field of view, that’s likely to be most important single determining factor when choosing between the two. If you like the 35mm focal length, then the upgraded sensor in the Sony RX1R II makes a compelling case.

Additional note: It’s still not clear why Sony delayed the RX1rII shipment in Japan. And it’s not clear if that affects all countries or not.

RX1rII store links: [shopcountry 43460]

And here is the first video of the new version of the Commlite Nikon F to Sony FE autofocus adapter. That adapter will go for sale in January.

Additional info:
Camera: Sony A7RII
Lens: Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED
Adaptor: Commlite Nikon F to Sony E Electronic Adapter
Focus: Contrast + Phase detection
Product distributed by Sharpest Light Limited
For more information, please visit:
www.facebok.com/sharpestlight
www.sharpestlight.com
email: enquiry@sharpestlight.com

Image courtesy: Christian Dandyk (Facebook / Berlin Backstage).

Christian Dandyk posted that very useful Batis and Loxia angle of view comparison on Facebook. I would love to see a 135mm Batis as next lens to get closer to the Zeiss logo on the image ;)

And our reader Trefoil posted a first Loxia 21mm unboxing report on SonyAlphaForum. First thing he noticed:

It’s small but quite heavy, a little bit heavier than my expectation. It will be a little too heavy for wristbands, but quite acceptable for common straps.(Read more on SAF)

Batis and Loxia store links:
Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 lens in US at Adorama, Bhphoto. In Eu at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2.0 lens at Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Loxia 21mm FE lens at BHphoto and Adorama. In Europe at WexUK.
Loxia 50mm FE lens at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama., WexUK, CameraPro.
Loxia 35mm FE lens at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, WexUK, CameraPro.

Steel Chen contacted me yesterday. he is the maker of a completely new Nikon F to Sony FE autofocus adapter. This would be the second adapter after the [shoplink 43423 ebay]Commlite adapter[/shoplink].

He sent me a video showing the improved version of his adapter. Steel is using the [shoplink 43430 ebay]Nikkor 70-300mm lens[/shoplink] on the A7rII:

My Nikon/Sony E ring performs better AF because we can better leverage Nikon lens parameters, make it the best fit in PDAF on A7R II.
1. Engineering prototype demonstration.
2. AF-S lens support only, for now.
3. Fast full range PDAF on Sony A7R II, good CBAF speed on A7R II
4. Its status can be tracked here in http://forum.xitek.com/thread-1529533… , sorry its in Chinese .

Mine is still in prototyping, cause  I need to solve the problem of automatic Aperture control of Nikon G lens.

Compared to the Commlite adapter Steel Chen’s version seems to focus much faster and also absolutely no annoying autofocus motor noise! He is reading this site so feel free to comment this post with your questions and he will try to answer you. There is yet no exact plan about when the adapter will go on sale and for what price. But I surely hope to get my hands on that adapter soon as it really seems to work fine!

SAR readers DAN sent me the link to his video. It shows how the A7rII start-up time seems to have been reduced on the new 3.0 firmware:

Just a quick test of the new 3.0 Firmware and how much fast the boot time is over 2.0. Pretty negligible, but every bit helps, I suppose. Other benefits to the 3.0 firmware are well welcomed.

I hope other readers can confirm this. And I do hope Sony will reduce the many lags of the camera during normal operation (not only at startup) via future firmware update.